Advice to beginning fiction writers
Everyone who sets out to become a writer wants to be seen as a “real” writer, not a wanna-be or never-gonna-be. It’s basic human nature […]
writing
On sales versus publications
I was updating my website today, and it finally occurred to me that the casual site visitor might be put off by the fact that […]
Manuscript Tracking Tools
Beginning writers who send out their very first stories to magazines or anthologies don’t usually have much trouble keeping track of where they sent them. […]
How To Make A Living Writing Short Fiction
In this article, I’ll take a look at the practical economics of trying to make a living writing short fiction in the U.S. This topic […]
The Creeping Horror of Signature Sheets
Have you ever seen or purchased a limited-edition book that came already signed by the author or contributors? Yeah, it’s pretty neat getting a book […]
Tools For Wandering Writers
We writers are particular. We’re careful to find space for our books and our desk, and jealously guard our writing time. We crave quiet so […]
On Dark Fantasy
In the 1990s, dark fantasy became regarded as being “code” for horror. Why? Major publishers who flooded the market with awful, horrible, no-good novels in […]
Literary journalism
Literary journalism refers to the use of fictional techniques in writing a work of nonfiction. In other words, it’s a true, well-researched, journalistically-sound story that […]
Drunkards, deadbeats and bummers
“Drunkards, deadbeats and bummers” This was how Harvard president Charles W. Eliot described reporters as he rejected Joseph Pulitzer’s offer to endow a journalism school […]
Writing query letters for fiction or poetry markets
Writing a query letter for fiction or poetry is a bit different from writing a query letter for a nonfiction piece. Short Fiction and Poetry […]
Dealing with rejections from editors
In the inevitable event that you get a rejection letter from a publisher, you should, in the vast majority of cases, not take it personally. […]